Towards Evidence - based Practice in Science Education 2 : Developing and evaluating evidence - informed teaching sequences RESEARCH BRIEFING

RESEARCH BRIEFING Can it be shown that some science teaching approaches work better than others for achieving specific curriculum aims? The science education research literature identifies learning difficulties and may suggest ways of addressing these. Few studies, however, develop and evaluate teaching interventions. This project involved designing, implementing and evaluating short teaching sequences, drawing on available insights from research. Pupils' learning was measurably better in several important respects than for others following the schools' normal approach to the same content. • It is possible to design teaching sequences, informed by research, which result in better understanding by pupils of conceptual goals. • Pupils following the designed teaching sequences are no better than others following the school's usual approach, at questions requiring factual recall. • Teachers not involved in the development of the teaching sequences can use the materials to achieve better results with their pupils. • The use of research-informed teaching materials can lead to significant changes in the way teachers deal with content and classroom talk. • Teachers responded positively to teaching sequences which draw on insights from research, providing the sequences were perceived as being workable. Curriculum development and accompanying CPD programmes, focussing on the teaching of key scientific concepts and informed by research, can raise the achievement of pupils. Science testing regimes that focus heavily on factual recall may well overestimate pupils' understanding of key conceptual content. Implementation of carefully designed teaching approaches, particularly when linked to systematic CPD, has the potential to lead to widespread improvement of pupils' understanding of key science concepts. CPD programmes aiming to increase science teachers' effectiveness could usefully contain a component on the use of research-informed teaching materials. A potentially successful method of disseminating, to teachers, the results of research on science teaching and learning involves transforming those findings into workable practices for the classroom. and King's College London. Its overall aim is to explore ways of enhancing the impact of research on practice and policy in science education, by improving our understanding of the interface between researchers and practitioners. The EPSE Network has developed and evaluated several examples of evidence-informed practice, and has explored practitioners' perceptions of the influence of research on their practice. Whilst focussing on science education, the findings and outcomes may also illuminate the research-practice interface in other subject areas.